For this tutorial I will teach you how to make a nice spike effect.

Step 1.
Open up a new document of 500x500. and fill it with black.

Step 2.
Now put 2 lens flare (Filter>Render>Lens Flare) in the middle of the page as shown below.


Step 3.
Now Go to Wave (Filter>Distort>Wave) and use these settings.

P.S you may need to hit Randomize a few times to get what i got.

Step 4.
Now go to twirl (Filter>Distort>Twirl) and make the angle 346

Step 5.
Now Duplicate layer and flip it horizontally (Edit>Transfer>Flip Horizontally).
and then set the layer as lighten. Then Merge The layer. Then Press CTRL + U and click the colourise box and pick the colour you want.
and this is what you should end up with: